The Daily Word of Righteousness

The Person and Work of Christ, #14

And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts, and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel: (Ezekiel 39:2)

At some point the nations of the earth will attack Jerusalem.

First, according to our understanding, Russia (or some other country of the north) will attack the nation of Israel. Five-sixths of this unfortunate army will be slain by the Lord on the mountains of Israel.

At a later time, the nations of the earth under the leadership of Antichrist will once again come up against Jerusalem and successfully invade the nation. Then Christ, and the members of His Body with Him, will return from Heaven and wage war against the forces of Antichrist, utterly destroying them.

. . . and the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee. (Zechariah 14:5)

The all-powerful Son of David will overcome the enemy and then be crowned King on the Throne of David in Jerusalem.

The Light of God will be seen on Israel. All the surviving nations of the earth will realize it is the Lord God who has sent Christ. They then will come and bring their wealth to Jerusalem.

Therefore thy gates shall be open continually; they shall not be shut day nor night; that men may bring unto thee the forces of the Gentiles, and that their kings may be brought. (Isaiah 60:11)

We understand, therefore, that through Christ the nation of Israel will understand it is the chosen nation of God. The citizens of the nation of Israel will realize, because of the Presence and deeds of Christ, that they are God's people.

In addition to reconciling to God the nation of Israel there will come also a deep work of reconciliation to God in the hearts of the members of God's Church, beginning with the firstfruits of His Bride and extending finally to the entire Bride of the Lamb. The Bride of the Lamb is the new Jerusalem—the holy city destined to rule the nations of the saved on the new earth throughout the ages of unending ages.

The deep work of reconciling the firstfruits to Jesus has begun now. It is the spiritual fulfillment of the Judaic Day of Atonement. The Day of Atonement has commenced. It will continue until the Lord returns to earth and then operate throughout the thousand-year Kingdom Age.

We Christians need to be reconciled to God. We believe in Jesus but we also love the world, sin, and our self-will. We are not fully reconciled to God until the world, sin, and self-will have been driven from our personality. The Lord accomplishes this reconciliation largely by suffering, by a baptism of fire.

When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning. (Isaiah 4:4)

Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin; (I Peter 4:1)

To be continued.